At the grand age of 32, Jonathan Benjamin Gill – otherwise known as JB – is a familiar face to many. The former member of boy band JLS is now an established member of the farming community and presents CBeebies’s Down on the Farm. And now as a presenter of BBC’s Songs of Praise he is increasingly known for his faith. JB talks to Charlotte Walker about how his walk with God has inspired him to look further afield than the boundaries of his own farm…

Like many young superstars craving solace, JB bought his home, set on a 15-acre farm in semi-rural north Kent, as an easy getaway from the craziness of London life in the spotlight. Little did he know that an inherent need to be resourceful would see him begin a new chapter in his life.
“Farming was never in my plans,” says JB. “It was just something that kind of happened, but it’s a great lifestyle, having two young children and something exciting to share with them.”

JB seems to have a knack of embarking on a whole new direction jus...

In his next Great British Adventure, Pete Woodward heads offshore for a taste of yacht racing with the Royal Ocean Racing Club.

Over a hundred yachts jostled for position in the churning waters of the Solent, with sharp changes of direction and mere feet of clearance between boats. The sun sparkled on the rolling waters and sea spray flung from plunging bows drifted through the cockpit. A team of ten aboard 40ft Playing Around, skippered by Ken Docherty of First Offshore Racing, we eagerly awaited the radio signal to go racing.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club, of Cowes and London, has been the leading organiser of offshore yacht races since the 1920s and organise the world-famous Fastnet race from these waters in the Solent, as well as trans-Atlantic and Caribbean races. Today, our finishing line was the harbour entrance in Le Havre, on the northern coast of France, with a 160-mile zig-zagging route across the Channel to successfully navigate to get there. The race, the Cervantes Tro...

Alastair McIver speaks with Wet Wet Wet legend Graeme Duffin about his longevity and survival
in the music industry

We’ve all been there, haven’t we?

Sat in a sold-out theatre, dotted purple and red speaker lights ahead of us on stage, the conversational hum before the band arrives on stage, followed by an expectant hush as the house lights dim. And then it happens. Shadowy figures from our past emerge from the wings, legends before our very eyes. The hair may be a bit greyer, the denims a little more faded, but from the moment the first chord arrives, we are reminded that the music has stood the test of time.

There are only a handful of bands these days – with originals in tow – that can claim longevity. The Glasgow-based band Wet Wet Wet is one of them. From the moment they launch into their first song, the audience are on up and on their feet, rising as one to sing and dance to the band’s tried and tested back catalogue, including such hits as ‘Somewhere somehow’, ‘Julia s...

It is hard to believe it has been more than eight years since the start of the Syrian crisis. Eight years of communities devastated, the economy collapsed, families traumatised, and entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble.

As the world seems to have moved on in many ways, the fact remains that for millions of Syrians, the crisis is still their daily reality. Still. More than eight years later.

For those who remain in Syria, every day is full of challenges. For the ones who have fled across borders in search of refuge, life is a struggle to survive.

For almost 25 years, David Verboom has seen the effects of conflicts and large-scale disasters first-hand. He has listened to the countless stories of refugees and survivors. David’s work in humanitarian aid has taken him to places like Sudan, the Middle East, and across Asia before leading him to his current position as CEO of the international emergency relief and recovery organisation, Medair.

Still, each new story he hears af...

As Alex Nsengimana knelt on the cool, tiled floor of Kigali prison, he faced a stark moment of truth. Could he offer forgiveness to the man who had once brutally killed members of his family?

His thoughts returned to the nightmare he had faced 19 years before. Even though he was just five years old on 6 April 1994, Alex would never forget the morning when the plane carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down. The president’s assassination sparked a wave of violence that consumed Rwanda, and shocked the rest of the world.

Alex never knew his father, and his mother died of AIDS-related illness when he was aged four. When the genocide struck, Alex’s remaining family were among the first Tutsi victims to be targeted, when Hutu militia stormed their house one afternoon. Alex, Lillian, and their brother, Fils, watched through a window in horror while their grandmother was tortured and killed.

Several days later a group of men with guns came looking for his uncle, Ka...

Cole Moreton is an award-winning journalist, who has just had his first novel, The Lightkeeper, published.  He was made Interviewer of the Year in 2016, and has written about a whole range of people and events, starting in 1993 with a little boy called Amar, who had been badly burned in Iraq.

The boy was rescued by Conservative MP, Emma Nicholson, who was monitoring the treatment of the Marsh Arabs by the regime of Saddam Hussein. Much of Cole’s early work covered trouble hotspots around the world, but he actually got into journalism in the first place to prove a careers advisor that he was wrong…

“He asked me what I wanted to be. I couldn’t say a rock star, which was the truth (David Bowie was like my freaky big brother, giving permission to be individual), so I said a writer. He said: ‘So does everybody else, it’s not going to happen, what else do you want to do?’ Working-class kids like us were not writers. We worked in a bank if we were lucky. That’s what he suggested.&n...

Having ensured his name stands the test of time in the pantheon of sci-fi greats, Laurence Fishburne discusses the parallels between his time in cinema and his faith off-screen.

With his imposing frame and booming voice, Laurence Fishburne would have suited the life of a preacher. Though he may have chosen acting as his profession – and now with a host of acclaimed performances to his name –the idea of Fishburne having a career in the Church is not as far-fetched as it seems.

“I wasn’t raised in a religious environment, but I’ve always had unshakeable faith,” the 57-year-old nods. “Always. And I’m grateful for that. God is real for me. Whatever name you want to give him is up to you. But I know that there is one. I know, because I believe.”

You can almost hear the sermon in Fishburne’s stage-honed voice.

“I believe in myself,” he declares. “I believe in God; I believe in my children; I believe in human beings. I believe in the goodness that is in human beings. I believe in ...